Farwell wins slugfest

By Ben Murphy

Fans of defense dominated high school football games hopefully didn’t attend Thursday night’s non-league contest between Farwell and visiting Coleman. Those that did attended however were treated to a 61-54 win for the Eagles in an offensive slugfest.

“Offensively, we did a very good job,” Farwell head coach Alan Esterline said of his debut win with the Eagles. “Up front the offensive line did a nice job blocking. Keegan Rohdy ran well, Jake Turner ran well. It was a great team win for us.”

Rohdy opened up the night’s scoring with a 58 yard touchdown run with 8:39 to play in the first quarter, though Mitch Nordstrom missed the extra point to leave the Eagles ahead 6-0 early.

Coleman answered with a Timmy Anderson 30 yard run and two point conversion to go up 8-6, though Farwell’s Rohdy answered on the ensuing kickoff, returning the kick for a 79 yard score. Jake Turner connected with Sutton on the two-point play to put Farwell ahead 14-8.

Coleman stormed back with Anderson’s second touchdown of the night, this time on a 22 yard run with 30 seconds to play in the opening frame. The Comets made good on the two-point play to go ahead 16-14.

Coleman scored on a pass play early in the second quarter, and again succeeded on its two point play to go ahead 24-14, though Rohdy galloped from 21 yards out with 6:17 to play in the half, followed by a Nordstrom extra point to make it 24-21.

With 3:00 to play in the half, Turner ran in from 63 yards out, Nordstrom again split the uprights on the extra point to put the Eagles ahead once again 28-24.

Farwell’s Noah Wilson made two critical plays late in the first half. The first on a six yard run, the second on an interception on the ensuing Coleman offensive possession. Wilson returned the interception to the 19.

Rohdy ran in from 19 yards out in the half’s closing seconds to put Farwell up 41-24 at the half.

Rohdy increased Farwell’s lead on the first offensive play of the second half, running in for a 53 yard score, followed by a Nordstrom extra point to make the score 48-24.

Coleman scored on a pass play four minutes later however, and added another two-pointer to pull within 48-32.

Wilson ran in for his second score of the night with 39 seconds left to play in the third, though the extra point attempt failed to give Farwell a 54-32 lead after three.

Coleman scored two touchdowns and converted a pair of two-point conversions in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, pulling within 54-48, though Turner ran in a 25 yard score of his own with 5:58 left to play to give the Eagles a 61-48 edge.

The Comets scored on the ensuing kick return, but missed the extra point to make it 61-54 with 5:45 to play.

After a failed Farwell offensive possession, the Comets got a first and goal on the Farwell five yard line, eventually getting within two yards of a score before the Eagles stopped them to end the game.

“They’re a very good football team,” Esterline said of Coleman. “Sometimes we made the plays and sometimes we didn’t. We’re working on getting better.”

Rohdy finished with 228 yards rushing on 18 carries, four rushing touchdowns and one kick-return for a touchdown.

Turner had 108 yards and two scores on 14 carries, Wilson had 18 yards and two touchdowns as the Eagles had 375 total rushing yards in the game.

Ryan Simmons led the defense with eight tackles, Turner had seven, Seth Baginski had six takedowns and an interception and Wilson had five tackles, one sack and one interception.

“I was very proud of the kids, they stepped up,” Esterline said. “We had our backs against the wall, they got it to the two yard line and we kept them out of the end zone. That was a huge defensive stand for us at the end.”